Exile's Return
by Aitrus5
Summary: Behind the scenes of Myst III: Exile....and my own special ending


Exile's Return   
  
94.11.01   
The unthinkable has happened. Despite all my nara-locks, all my precautions, all my security measures, the worst   
has come to pass.   
Saavedro, a man from my past, has returned.   
And he has stolen Releeshahn!   
It is all I can do to keep my hand from shaking as I write these words. I have not felt this helpless since my beloved Catherine was being held prisoner by Father. At least then, I could write. Then, I could make changes to the Age of Riven, keep it stable enough for my ever vigilant friend to travel to that failing Age and rescue her.   
Now, my friend has linked into J'nanin with no idea whatsoever of the dangers he faces. Nothing in my journal will prepare him for this.   
I can still see the look on Saavedro's face as he linked out of Tomahna. His eyes were wide and staring, and there was a slight smile on his lips. Triumphant. Everything that mattered to him was embodied in the Book of Releeshahn. Why?   
What has happened to him?   
He looked like he had aged greatly, the lines on his face were deep and creased.   
His dress and hair were unkempt, in disarray. His hand raised and slammed down onto the J'nanin book as if   
he were driving a dagger home in my heart.   
He might as well have.   
The D'ni, those brave and noble people who have meant so much in my life are in the hands of a madman. They   
are going about their new lives on Releeshahn, unaware that they may facing certain doom.   
And I sit here, helpless. I can only hope that my friend will be successfull in his latest endeavor on my behalf.   
It galls me that I must rely once again on others to put right what I have failed to achieve.   
All I can do is wait.   
My poor friend.   
  
"Atrus, you must eat something." Catherine pleaded.   
His pen paused above the paper and he looked up with eyes red from lack of sleep. His clothes were still blackened. "Food is not what I require, Catherine. Knowledge is what would sustain my hope now."   
"We've already searched everywhere. There is no other linking book to J'nanin." she said softly.   
She watched and shuddered as her husband crumbled bit by bit in front of her. He was consumed by guilt. So like him, she thought. He blames himself for things he cannot control, then obsesses about what he could have done to 'prevent' it from happening.   
"You've done everything you can." she said gently, slipping an arm around his shoulders. "What you need now is food and rest. Listen to me, Atrus."   
"And what is it I've done?" he said in a slurred voice, slumping in his chair. "Nothing. Written another journal. I'm always living with the consequences of nothing."   
"Atrus, ~listen~ to me." She knelt down in front of him, turning the chair so he faced her. She clasped his hand in her two, searching his eyes. "This is not your fault."   
His eyes drifted past her, settling on the double frame picture on the left side of his desk. "I did nothing..."   
"This was not your fault." she said calmly.   
"The D'ni are gone, Catherine, and only the Maker knows where." he said wearily.   
"Then straighten up and deal with the matter."   
"I already have, my love. I've sent another in my place. To take the punishments I am meant to recieve."   
Her eyes hardened. "Now you are being foolish. He linked to J'nanin of his own free will. He knows how much Releeshahn means to you."   
He gritted his teeth. "As did Saavedro, apparently."   
"Yes, he must have been the one that had been rifling through the Ages, your journals." She gasped and her eyes were suddenly terror-stricken.   
"I...I'll be right back."   
Atrus watched as she disappeared into the bedroom and returned with a sleepy infant. She cooed softly at their   
daughter and rocked her gently.   
Catherine looked at her husband. "He might have harmed Yeesha." she said quietly, her voice straining to remain calm.   
His voice was a horrified whisper. "I know."   
Atrus groaned and sank his head into his hands.   
"If I remember correctly, Saavedro came from Narayan. Did you travel to Narayan when you linked back to J'nanin for your research?"   
"Shush. You'll wake her."   
"She was already nodding off when I arrived. Do not worry."   
"No...I stayed only for a short time. J'nanin looked the same as it always did. But it...was unpleasant. The boys..." he broke off, unable to meet her gaze.   
"I know." she said softly. Her arms nestled more fully around Yeesha.   
"But Saavedro must have been there!" Atrus slammed his fist into the padding of the chair. "That was the only existing linking book to Tomahna around...so what was he doing there?"   
"I fear our friend will find out before we do, my love." she sighed. "We must trust and have hope."   
"That is all well and good, Catherine, but it is infuriating to sit here and do nothing but wait!" he hissed. "It is unacceptable to me. Once again, I am helpless, victim of my blindness to see the truth."   
"You're talking like you're writing again. Here."   
"Wha-" he said feebly as Catherine stood and fed Yeesha into his arms. He cradled her gently, a look of protest in his eyes.   
"I-"   
"Yes, I know there is no time for this." she interrupted, looking down at him sternly. Her mouth was a straight line. "You need to spend more time with your child. You will never find a better time."   
"But Ca-"   
"Go into the bedroom, I'll tidy up here. If there's any word, I'm in the   
next room."   
"Bu-"   
"Go, Atrus."   
Hurt, he peeled himself from his writing chair, as he did every night, and   
shuffled into the bedroom.   
Immediately, he lay her down in her crib across from their bed. Yeesha gurgled once and grasped in her sleep the stuffed and highly abused sunner doll that lay upside down next to her. Fine hair the color of her mothers pressed against her head, contrasting with the white sheets.   
Atrus breathed softly, not wanting to disturb her, and sat down in the   
chair besides the crib. He traced the D'ni symbols he'd carved into the   
head of her crib.   
Bihgto. Shorah. Devokan. Blessing. Peace. Hope. Made of a rich, brown fallen trunk from Channelwood, he'd polished it until it shone in the multi-colored sunlight streaming through the intricate skylight.   
Tints of green shown through the leaves of the dominating Great Tree. Opaque stars formed constilations that Catherine would never see again. Tiny circles of brownish glass formed the village near the Tree, boats tied at the dock. Blue shades covered the border, forming both sky and sea. During the day the sun travled across the sky and appeared to be a part   
of the scene. Catherine had gasped at the intricacy.   
The door was to his left. To the right of the crib were bookshelves so   
overburdened with maps and journals and Ages that it sagged alarmingly. The entire shelf was housed in a clear nara case, complete with double padlocks. Every place he stored Ages now had padlocks, or some kind of security. It was a grim but necessary reminder of how the Art could be abused.   
He looked down at the sleeping infant and gently stroked her tiny hand, which grasped his finger with an intensity that startled him.   
Will it happen all over again? he silently asked his daughter. Will I lose it all? Because of my neglect?   
As always, there was nobody to answer his questions but himself.   
"I am afraid, Yeesha." he whispered."   
"Releeshahn has been stolen. It is happening all over again. My sons betrayed me. I...I fear their hand in this. Everytime I visit Myst Island, everytime I look upon my Ages, burnt and lost to me, I wonder what fate has befallen them."   
A shuddering sigh escaped him. A numbness washed over his being like a wave, drowning his soul. The tiny hand tightened around his finger.   
"What did my sons do to the Ages? I shall never truly know. But I fear the worst. For if the remaining Ages are any indication...then I know that this is my fault once again. This time my own people suffer as well. And my brave friend from unknown lands. Saavedro, a man from my past I once called friend, now conspires to destroy what I hold dear. And it is my fault. Because I did nothing. Because I did not see. Perhaps because I did not wish to see."   
He stroked her head softly and she let out a whimper, sensitive to his feelings. "It will not happen again." he whispered. "My eyes will remain   
open. I will not fail you, my daughter."   
Catherine, standing outside the door, hurridly wiped her eyes and quietly stepped into the room. "Neither will I." she said softly, slipping   
her arms around him and laying her head on his broad back.   
They silently watched Yeesha sleep, then joined her in rest on their own bed.   
  
Another Age went into the fire. Another Age was scarred irrepairibly, lost forever.   
"No, Yeesha, do not do this! You cannot do this!"   
Yeesha sat in a chair by the rotting crib in her old bedroom on Tomahna. She took in the empty shelves and the smashed glass that crunched under her feet. "I can't believe I used to live in this place." She grinned wickedly at the old woman before her. "I bet this brings back memories for you, doesen't it, Mother? Traveling with my armies from Age to Age, I bet you never thought you'd end up back here."   
"I've long gotten used to my lack of freedom." the old woman's voice cracked from disuse. "You're the one who needs to remember properly."   
"Quiet, mother. Or I'll have you gagged. And I told you a hundred times. My name is Yahvo now."   
Fire flared where it usually burned low. "You are NOT the Maker!"   
"Of course I am. I am nahvah, Master, of every Age I write. What else   
would the Maker be?"   
"Please, Yeesha, for the sake of everything, stop!"   
Her daughter's hair was cut short and trim. Glittering rings covered her   
fingers, robes of black and grey covered her small body. Narayan symbols covered the robe in red. Her eyes, black and hard, stared at the cowering old woman in the cage like she was a beast.   
"Your father would weep if he could see what you've done."   
Yeesha snorted. "I suppose you'd be amazed at how little that means to me. After all, he's been gone 30 years. Since practically my birth. That's a long time to harbor feelings of any sort."   
"He didn't abandon you, Yeesha!" Catherine pleaded desperately. "He was murdered. By ~Saavedro!~"   
Yeesha never faltered and continued sharpening the knife. "He told me you'd   
say that."   
"Stubborness you received from me. Stupidity comes from within."   
"Quiet, old woman!" Yeesha's voice was scalding. "Saavedro was there for me. He raised me. He was there for me. He told me what you did. What Father did. How Father abandoned me for his Ages. He abandoned me for Releeshan!" she said with complete assurence.   
"You...you can't just destroy them!" Catherine grasped the bars, silver   
hair whipping around. "There are countless lives at stake!"   
Yeesha smiled gently at her mother, and patted her on the head like a dog. "Yes, I know."   
She picked up the last Book from the pile. "Hmmm...Averone." Leafing through it, she read pages silently, occaisionally sniffing in derision or chuckling to herself.   
Catherine gasped, felt a horrifying numbness as her daughter proceeded to score out several sentances and write in several phrases. She growled, trying to bend the bars with all her strength, though she knew it was hopeless. She'd tried it a thousand times before.   
Yeesha finished her writing, smiled to herself, and cast the book into the   
fire besides her.   
"NO!" Catherine yelled, stretching out her arms between the bars, grasping futily.   
"There," she said. " The nova will be beautiful. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you use your imagination."   
Catherine's withered face fell. She was an old woman, her arms and legs were like sticks, atrophied. "You are truly lost to me." she whispered.   
"And now it's time for you to go, mother." Yeesha said glibly. She tossed the knife into the cage. "I'm going to leave you here, Mother. I'm tired of you."   
Catherine slumped down. It had finally come to this.   
"I don't need you anymore, Mother. Your knowledge is all used up. What, you thought I'd kept you alive this far because I loved you?" Yeesha laughed in her face.   
"Some weak, sentimental fool I'd be then!. And Saavedro doesen't need you anymore. He's even stopped calling you Tamara. I bet that's a relief."   
Catherine shuddered. Low sobs shook her bony shoulders and her silver hair   
hid her face.   
"But, I'm going to give you a choice." Yeesha said, gazing down at her.   
"Wha-what kind of choice?" Catherine's voice faltered.   
"Saavedro found a very old book long ago in a library of your husband." She pulled it out of her robes. "Fascinating, really. I believe it is called a   
Prison Age." She placed it on the ground next to the bars.   
Catherine's jaw dropped. She shook her head slowly from side to side. "No..."   
"Grandfather's going to be very happy to see you, Mother." Yeesha smiled. "Tell him I said hello."   
"You...you can't..."   
"It's either that or starve to death. I gave the dagger to you so you can defend yourself or...well, I don't think I have to say it. She clenched her fist. "Finally, we have our revenge."   
As Yeesha opened a linking book, Catherine pressed herself against the bars. "Don't leave me here, Yeesha. I beg you!"   
"You mean, abandon you how Father abandoned me? How he abandoned Saavedro? You are the only one left to pay for his crimes."   
The hand moved closer.   
"Yeesha!"   
Catherine's agonized cry halted the hand. Yeesha stopped and gazed at her mother, dark eyes mirroring each other.   
"How does it feel to be helpless and afraid, mother?" she said softly.   
And the hand pressed to the page.   
Catherine closed her eyes.   
Catherine didn't see her daughter vanish, the book fall onto the fire, but she did hear the sound of air rushing in to fill the void, the crackle of the flames.   
She shrieked and threw herself at the bars like an animal, pounding and scraping at the bars until her fingers were bloody and her shoulders bruised.   
She lay on her back, gasping, wheezing, eyes squeezed shut.   
I must not give up. I must fight now to save my own life. Even if I have nothing and no one. I still have myself.   
She gripped the dagger and rolled over on her side. With a shaking hand,   
she reached through the bars and plucked the dark green book from the floor.   
She opened it and the linking window swirled into existence. Her tears fell onto the page and she wished with all her heart and soul that it really did   
link back to D'ni.   
Had the prophecies forseen this? she thought bitterly.   
Her shaking, age-spotted hand moved closer and closer-   
  
"Catherine!" Wake up! Wake up!"   
Atrus shook her until he feared she would fall apart in his hands, but it   
did nothing to stop the raw scream that had suddenly burst from her   
throat.   
Yeesha awakened and added her distressed howls to the mix.   
Deafened, he hugged her, covered her with his body, stroking and murmuring   
soft words.   
Sounds muffled, she continued to scream and flail at his body. And then   
he felt it stop, the buzz of air against his chest, and her back started   
heaving with sobs.   
He released her but she clung to him. He was bewildered. Never in all his life had he seen his wife behave like this.   
"It was just a dream." he said softly. She hiccuped and released him, wiping at her eyes. "Atrus..." she wheezed. "Oh, Atrus...it was horrible..."   
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently.   
Her eyes were full of fear. He was appalled. "No, I do not want to   
talk about it. Not ever! Where is she?"   
"Yeesha?"   
"Yes, Yeesha!" she said, voice rising. She seemed on the verge of panicking.   
He slid off the bed and brought the crying baby out of her crib. "She's right here, my love." he said.   
"Give her to me." Catherine said urgently, holding her hands out.   
He slid an arm around her and rocked her gently, rocking Yeesha in   
turn until the baby's cries softened and her face relaxed in a dimpled smile   
once again.   
"You gave us quite a fright." Atrus said.   
Her cheeks turned crimson. "I am sorry. It's just...it was so horrible. Maybe one day, I'll tell you about it. But now now."   
"Shhhh, it's all right Catherine. We're all here."   
"Thank the Maker for that." She looked down at the baby sucking at the end   
of her finger. She swallowed. "I don't know what I'd do if you or Yeesha   
weren't here. I really don't."   
Atrus was silent for a moment. "Well...as long as we're up." He dressed and   
disappeared into the pantry adjacent to the bed.   
Catherine stood and nestled the squirming baby back into her crib. She tucked the blankets around her, and cooed softly until Yeesha was asleep once more.   
"Bihgto. Shorah. Devokan." she whispered softly. "I pray for you, daughter.   
I pray for that branch of the Great Tree to break and fall."   
She dressed silently, thinking of her dream, and her daughter, but strangely, not of Releeshan. That, she left to Atrus.   
A charge in the air left the hairs on the back of her neck standing up, and   
she heard the void of air collapse upon itself. "Atrus!" she called, already hurrying towards the sun room. She was breathless. Did he have Releeshan? Had he been successful? She threw open the double doors to behold a wonderful sight.   
"By the Maker, you've returned!" she cried joyfully, turning back to the bedroom. "Atrus, Atrus, come quick!"   
No doubt he was wondering why he'd had no help. "The fire burned the linking book you used, we had no way of following you." she apologized.   
She felt Atrus come up besides her, breathless with excitement. "Did you find it? Where's Releeshan?"   
The figure stepped forward empty handed, a look of sadness upon upon his face. Oh by the Maker, no...   
Then the rush of air sounded again and before either of them could take a step, their mysterious rescuer made a surprised grunt and collapsed to the ground like a felled ox.   
It was as if time slowed down.   
As the man fell, blood pouring from the massive head wound, it revealed Saavedro, hammer in one hand, Releeshahn in another. The look of rage   
on his face was so profound, it struck them like a physical blow.   
He leapt lightly over the body and ran at them shrieking wildly.   
They fell back, nearly tripping themselves and Saavedro struck at Atrus,   
hammer plunging down on to his shoulder, crunching bone. Atrus went down groaning loudly. Catherine made a fist and backhanded Saavedro's face with all her strength. He rocked back, spat blood onto the floor, and ignored her. He raised his hammer once again to slam it with all his strength onto Atrus's left leg.   
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"   
"Hello, Atrus!" grinned Saavedro savagly. "Been a long time!" With the 'time' he ripped away from Atrus's right hand grasping his legs and slammed the hammer into the ground besides his head, kneeling besides him. "You didn't even bother to come yourself, you COWARD." he hissed loudly into   
the groaning man's ear. "Now I'm going to beat you to death with your own   
people!" He raised the Book of Releeshahn with both hands over Atrus's head, who raised his one working arm feebly to ward off the blow.   
Catherine ran forward and grabbed his wrists. "Stop this and listen!" she yelled in his face.   
Saavedro froze and his eyes looked up at her, staring. "Tamra?"   
She blinked.   
"Yes...Tamra. It's me, Tamra. You don't want to do this...Atrus didn't do anything to you!"   
"But...he left his boys with me...they murdered and killed...Narayan is dead..." His eyes flashed downward. "It's YOU'RE fault! You left them   
with me, and you never came back!"   
"I...I didn't know." Atrus gasped, struggling to remain conscious.   
"Couldn't be bothered with us anymore, you mean!" the enraged man spat.   
His eyes turned to Catherine. "And you...you're not Tamra."   
She froze.   
"My wife's dead! Dead behind that damn shield, along with my entire world!"   
She lost her grip as he flung himself off of Atrus and onto her, Book sweeping down. His weight bore her to the ground and she kicked and fought, swore and scratched, The book slammed into her temple, and her arms suddenly   
weren't in control of her brain anymore. Her vision blurred and the last thing she heard was the faint cries of Yeesha from behind the door.   
Atrus moaned in pain, trying to get to the bedroom door.   
"How does it feel to be weak and helpless, Atrus?" Saavedro stood from   
his wife lying on the floor, wincing slightly from the pain of long   
scratches on his face. "I know just how you feel."   
Atrus could not begin to conceive how frightened he was. He'd never been   
in a fight in his life. He was a thinker, a dreamer, not a warrior like Pran or a leader like Tamon. He looked over at the prone body of his friend and anger welled up in him. His mysterious benefactor had done   
so much for him and what was he rewarded with? Death at the hands of the result of Atrus's own mistakes.   
Saavedro noted where the look was going. "I warned him." he said, giggling. "I told him the doors wouldn't close behind him."   
Atrus had no idea what he was talking about. "Please...spare them." His shoulder and leg throbbed with pain. "Don't harm them anymore. Kill me, if   
you wish. But leave my family and Releeshahn alone. They had nothing to   
do with whatever happened to y-" he broke off as Saavedro's teeth clenched.   
"You would have KNOWN had you bothered to come back to Narayan!"   
"There..." Atrus gasped. "...were...complications."   
Saavedro loomed over him and knelt down across his stomach. His hate was   
palpable. Atrus had never wanted to get away from anybody more than he did now. "How could you leave us with those greedy, monstrous little boys!?" he shrieked.   
"You remember Narayan, Atrus? Do you remember it among all those countless other worlds you've created? Do you even care what happens to them after you're done writing them? Do you write, 'The End' like in so many other books?"   
"I...I..." Atrus's mind swam in and out of consciousness.   
"They caused our civilation to collapse. They made us turn against each other. They caused the Tree to blacken and die!"   
"How..."   
"And then they ran."   
Saavedro wasn't looking at Atrus anymore. His eyes were unfocused, and his voice sank to a whisper. He was looking up at the ceiling, through the stained glass patterns, at something only he could see.   
"I followed them from our dying world, leaving my wife and two baby girls...   
I linked through the strange book you'd always carried and they ambushed me.   
Tied me up and put me in front of a fire."   
Saavedro was sweating now, as if reliving the terrible experience. Atrus wished he could use both arms to cover his ears.   
"They tormented me with taunts and jeers. Laughed at me while I pleaded for their help. Toyed with me. They did this!" Saavedro tore open his robes for Atrus to witness a round scar across his entire chest and stomach. "Your sons are quite skilled with knives." he said, grimacing at the memory. It's the mark of the Sun King."   
Atrus turned away, feeling like he was going to retch.   
"Achenar used a poison snake in box to strike at   
me. I was sick and weak and desperate."   
"Stop..." whispered Atrus, He had seen what his sons had been capable of, but the full horror of an actual demonstration was too much for him to handle. His soul recoiled in horror. "I'm s-sorry..."   
"And do you know what they did next?"   
"Please...no..."   
"They BURNED their Myst linking books in front of me! The last voice I heard for twenty years was their mocking laughter as they linked out of   
J'nanin!"   
Saavedro's eyes held a feverish gleam. He glared down at Atrus in murderous rage. "And when I finally got back to Narayan, after months of going through your damnable lesson Ages, I found Narayan dead behind your shield.   
Only, I didn't know your combination, so I can't even bury my wife or my children. They're out there, rotting for twenty years, because of you."   
Atrus's eyes rolled back in their sockets.   
Saavedro frowned and slapped him. "Don't pass out on me just yet, Atrus."   
He gasped and tried to sit up, pain shooting through his body. "What...what are you going to do?"   
Saavedro grinned. "Oh, you'll see." He got up and headed towards the bedroom.   
No!   
"Saavedro! Don't!" Atrus snarled.   
But the man didn't listen and the bedroom door closed behind him.   
"Catherine!" yelled Atrus. "Catherine, wake up!" He thumped the floor with   
his hand as if vibrations would travel over towards her and wake her. "Catherine, please!"   
"Ooooooh..." she groaned. Her arms and legs moved like a gasping fish.   
"Catherine, please, Saavedro's in the bedroom! WITH YEESHA!" he yelled.   
She moaned again and brought herself to her knees, shaking her head and coughing.   
"Wha...Atrus..."   
"Saavedro's with Yeesha!"   
Her head snapped up, eyes widening and fear rising. "No!"   
"Yeeeeeshaaaaa!" she shrieked, running for the bedroom.   
The door slammed open, stopping her in her tracks.   
Saavedro stood, framed by the doorway, a triumphant smile on his lips. Yeesha was cradled in one arm, rendered strangely silent, and Releeshahn was in the other. Nightmare upon nightmare had not prepared Atrus for this.   
"Give me my child!" screamed Catherine angrily. Raw fear radiated from her.   
It knotted Atrus's stomach and his skin turned cold. "Saavedro, stop!"   
"What's it going to be, Atrus?" You're people, the world you hold so dear,   
or your own flesh and blood?" Saavedro grinned wickedly.   
"You know, I think he's actually going to have trouble choosing."   
"There isn't going to be a choice, Saavedro." said Catherine softly. "I will not allow you to take my child. By the Great Tree, I will not let it happen."   
"You people shouldn't be parents anyway." snapped Saavedro. "What happened to your murdering sons anyway? I know they're not here."   
Atrus laughed, long and hard. He'd long ago stopped feeling any pain, and he had no idea why he was laughing so hard. "My sons? Ah, my sons. My wonderful little boys. So eager to help and learn and do all they can."   
His voice became harsh. "They betrayed me as well, Saavedro. And now they are gone."   
Saavedro seemed truly surprised. "You killed them?" he asked almost eagerly."   
Catherine's eyes were locked onto Yeesha. "No, they are on Prison Ages. Exiled, if you will. There is no way out. And there is no way in. When my husband discovered it was they who betrayed him and me, he burned the books they used to link there. It was the only way, he felt, to contain them, to keep their evil ways from spreading to the Ages they had not visited." Her voice was cool and distant. "Not a day goes by when he and I do not grieve for them in some small way."   
"So, they're lost as well..." said Saavedro thoughtfully. "You actually did something right." He cackled. "This is wonderful! They'll live out their lives as I did. I hope the fog gets them!"   
"What fog? What are you talking about?" frowned Atrus.   
"Nevermind, nevermind. I'll be going now."   
"No, you will not." Catherine tensed, standing firmly.   
"You won't be a match for me in your condition, my dear." Saavedro snarled.   
"Where will you go, Saavedro?" Atrus said, coughing. "The fire burnt the linking book back to J'nanin."   
Saavedro's jaw went slack.   
"That's right." Atrus said harshly. Catherine glanced down at Atrus and saw to her wonder that even down on the floor, broken and bloodied, her husband radiated a fierce intelligence and intensity to rival that of his Father. Normally constrained to writing, he now turned it towards Saavedro. "Return my child and Releeshahn or I'll use all my resources to hunt you down."   
"Words." Saavedro spat. "You can't harm me." A slow, terrible smile spread across his face.   
"I know what I'm going to do. I have nothing now, no people, no family...I just think I'll take yours. But..." he stopped, trying to compose himself.   
"Can you heal my world, like you did the D'ni? Please...you have to help me...it's all I have! My world...my wife...can't you just please try?" Tears brimmed in his eyes. "I just want it to go back to the way it was...please?"   
"It doesen't work like that." Atrus said. "Please, stop this. End this madness. I tell you now, you will never see Narayan again. I'm sorry, but it is so."   
"No..." Saavedro's face grew desperate and Catherine tensed for anything. She would rescue her child or die herself.   
"My husband speaks the truth. Please, Saavedro, she's done nothing to you,   
release her!"   
"No! No! No! No! No! No!"   
"You're not going anywhere. Now give us back our lives!"   
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"   
Saavedro screaming, lunged past Catherine grasping hands and headed for the window. Atrus cried out and tried to heave himself up but collapsed in agony. Saavedro ran for the window, escape seconds away.   
Catherine screamed in surprise as a form lurched out of the sun room and fell onto Saavedro, driving him to the floor. Yeesha rolled out of his grasp with a squeal and he gasped as the book drove itself into his chest, depriving his lungs of air.   
Catherine scooped up Yeesha, heart pounding.   
"Get...Riven..." gasped their friend, eyes fluttering.   
Catherine ran and leaned over the desk and picked up the heavy Riven book. She turned and hovered over the struggling forms.   
"Use...it!" whispered the friend, rolling away from the robed form.   
She opened it and thrust it like a weapon at Saavedro's bare hand.   
"No, wai-" was all he said in surprise as he linked.   
All was silent, then Yeesha's cry filled the room.   
"That is a clear sign she's all right." Catherine sighed in relief.   
"Goodbye, Saavedro." Atrus stared solemnly at the book.   
"One more mistake of our past come back to haunt us." Catherine sighed.   
Atrus dragged himself over to the fallen body. "Oh, my friend..." Atrus groaned.   
She knelt down. "Is he..."   
"Yes." Atrus looked crestfallen. "It was his dying act."   
"We owe him everything, you know." she said softly. "More than you'll ever know."   
Atrus just looked at her, then nodded his head sagely. "We'll have to travel to Releeshahn for help. Give me the book."   
She brought the book over and they unlocked it, linking one after the other.   
The chimes in the sun room continued to ring, oblivious to the suffering   
and death behind their door, waiting for someone to return.   
  
94/11/07   
  
Bound as I am in these wrappings, I still feel the urge to write. To get   
the past days events down in my memory, so that they may never fade.   
We buried my friend on Releeshahn. It pains me that the only way he finally was able to greet the D'ni people he helped to save was from the grave. I grieve for him, and for the fact that once again, my mistakes have cost me something I hold dear.   
Now that Releeshahn is safe, that the brave men and women of D'ni can   
continue their lives without fear, I find my thoughts turning to Yeesha, and to my family.   
As I write, I look at my portrait of Sirrus and Achenar. I strove to do   
everything I could to raise them well, to teach them values all D'ni strive   
to follow. And yet, the spectacular failure of this was literally hammered into me seven days ago. Catherine tells me it is not her fault or mine. That sometimes no matter the teachings, some students fail to learn. Yet, she says this with a haunted look on her face.   
I look at Yeesha, smiling and innocent, and I wonder what the future holds.   
Which branch will she tread upon? And how will I shape her life to come?   
Catherine has remained strangly silent on the matter of her daughter, and I will not press her.   
And Saavedro?   
I grieve for Narayan, as I grieve for all the Ages I lost when my sons   
betrayed me. And yet, I have hope for Saavedro to ultimately find   
his lost family. The Star Fissure is a wonder of the Art, and I still do   
not comprehend it's true purpose. My friend had travelled through its starry expanse without harm and come to rest where he was most needed.   
Perhaps Saavedro will experience something similar.   
As I so often told my sons, dynamic forces spur change. I realize now, that in Ages, and in life, there are things we cannot control, events we cannot help but watch as they come to pass. We must strive to reconcile the past, right old wrongs, and atone for mistakes made.   
I do not know what the future holds for me, my family and the D'ni, but   
surely, we have the strength and balance to achieve anything. And so I close this journal.   
But my eyes remain open.   
  
The End.   
  
Comments? T12345r@aol.com 


End file.
